Are M&A Replacing R&D in Pharma?

A $15.8 billion dollar bidding war for Salix Pharmaceuticals just came to a dramatic end as Valeant Pharmaceuticals beat Endo International with an all-cash offer for the company. While some sectors would view this as game changing, the pharmaceutical industry is beginning to see this as status quo. In 2015, pharma deals have, “reached $59.3 billion, a 94% increase over that same period a year ago, and the highest value for this stage in any year since 2009,” according to Thompson Reuters. Given the flurry of merger and acquisition activity in the life science space over the past few years, this is not surprising to many pharmaceutical regulatory and compliance attorneys. After having lived through three acquisitions in 18 months, a California lawyer recently joked that the same company has laid her off twice without her ever having worked for it.